Here’s a progress report on the City Council’s much-vaunted annual carbon budgets. On the left is the agenda for the Manchester City Council Executive meeting of July 27 2011.  We’ve circled the relevant bit.  On the right is the agenda for next week’s 2012 equivalent. We’ve also circled the relevant bit. No, wait…

(Readers with keen eyes for irony will have spotted that while there’s not time to talk about carbon budgets, there IS time to talk about roads that lead – metaphorically and literally – to the Airport.)

It seems the “annual” carbon budget is about as “annual” as the Stakeholder Steering Group conferences (so far one in 2010 and another in… 2012), and as reliable in its appearance as the Greater Manchester Climate Strategy Implentation Plan.

I suppose we could ask the head of “News” at Manchester City Council for a statement about this. But a couple of weeks ago he made a completely false statement  about Manchester Climate Monthly. We provided proof that his statement was false that very same day.  In the two weeks since he has neither retracted the allegation nor apologised for it.  It’s an issue we will be taking up with his bosses.  In the meantime, maybe some MCFly reader(s) would like to ask him for a statement, and relay it on to us? Going via the Council switchboard should get to him. 0161 234 5000.

Doubtless there will be the strongest protestations that climate change remains a top priority.  Fine, but “if” there is a delay in producing carbon budgets – and we are all adults here, we can accept the inevitability of delays – isn’t it less-insanely-destructive-of-lingering-credibility to announce (pro-actively!) the delay, explain the reasons and announce the new deadline, rather than hope that nobody will notice?

Marc Hudson
mcmonthly@gmail.com